


On mute

by disappointionist



Category: Wallander (UK TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-06
Updated: 2014-12-06
Packaged: 2018-02-28 09:11:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2726846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/disappointionist/pseuds/disappointionist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Kurt is (finally) having a day that isn't busy, and Magnus has mercy upon us all.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On mute

The Ystad police office is quiet, even unusually so. It's almost like in the wintertime, when the ground is finally covered in snow and it is as if someone has pressed the mute button on the entire landscape. Kurt Wallander is leaning over the forensics report he got in this morning, scribbling notes on a notepad as he reads it. There's not much to write down, a pretty clear case for once. Not only do they have a bullet wound, the bullet that went in it and the murder weapon. They also have a confession. Certainly things still needed to be properly read through and noted upon and reports still had to be written. But it was one of the better cases for an ordinary tuesday, although be it a lot less exciting than most.

Most of the staff at this end of the office is someplace else it would seem. Grabbing coffee, copying files or chatting with people in other departments. Only if he concentrates hard on it, can Kurt hear the soft tapping of fingers against keyboards. If he leans a bit to the side and looks out his office door, the only head he can see among the desks is Magnus, probably because the man is pretty tall, and he's also got the desk closest to Kurt's door. The younger officer is engulfed deeply in whatever he's writing on his computer.

And Kurt thinks, for a moment, that if he just closes his eyes for one second, this could be the most relaxing workday he's had in weeks.

 

And then his phone rings. Not the comfortable tone of the office phone, but that annoying little beeping tune that is his mobile. He tries to press answer as fast as he can, trying to make it as short as possible.

”Wallander.” He answers.

”We've got the autopsy report ready for you. Do you want to come down here and pick them up, or should I just send someone with them?”

”Let someone bring it here.” Kurt says. ”I'm already going through the forensics as is.”

”Very good. I'll send someone up there in a minute.”

”Thanks.” Kurt says, ending the call. He leans back in his chair and looks out the window, his phone still in his hand as he flips it around, thinking. It really is dreadfully silent today.

”Give me your phone Kurt.” Magnus demands. Suddenly just standing there, on the other end of Kurt's desk. Kurt looks at him in surprise, both for being able to walk in unnoticed, but also because he's not sure he's ever heard Magnus demand anything at all. His expression is one of very cold seriousness.

So without thinking twice, Kurt hands his phone over. Magnus taps away at the keys, humming to himself in a low tone. And then, he hands the phone back. Kurt takes it from his hand. Frowns and looks at it, somehow expecting it to have changed during the thirty seconds in the other officer's hands.

”What did you..?” Kurt asks. Magnus has already turned to walk back to his desk, but he does a waving gesture with his hand.

”Your ringtone.” He says. Nothing more.

”Oh.” Kurt says. Stumped, he watches Magnus go back to his desk. The younger man sitting down and taking up work again, tapping at the keys, as if he had never moved from that spot. Kurt isn't entirely sure if Magnus wants him to say thanks. There are in fact, a lot of thing he's not sure about when it comes to Magnus. He sighs a little, but still lets it escape him. ”Thanks.” He utters, but only barely. Magnus doesn't look up from his computer screen. Maybe he didn't hear it. Kurt goes back to his notepad, scribbling down the observations on where the shooter was standing, noting to make sure it's matching with what the confessed murderer has said in interrogation.

 

And he'll never admit this, certainly not to Magnus himself. But the next time his phone rings and it's just an ordinary ring, not even too far from the familiar ring of his office phone, he lets out a little sigh of contentment and ease.

 

 


End file.
